The Haifa District Court on Sunday approved Interior Minister Aryeh Deri’s request to revoke the citizenship of Alaa Ziyud from Umm al-Fahm in the Jezreel Valley. Ziyud rammed and stabbed 4 Jewish victims on Route 65 near Gan Shmuel in October 2015 and last June was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
The court ruled that the terrorist’s Israeli citizenship is to be revoked in October 2017 and that he would be granted a temporary residence, which would be extended occasionally at the discretion of the Interior Minister subject to the Citizenship Law after Ziyud serves out his sentence. The prisoner is allowed to appeal this ruling.
During the attack, the terrorist ran over the soldier Orel Azouri and severely wounded her, then ran over another soldier who was standing at a bus stop at the Gan Shmuel junction. He then got out of his car and stabbed Azouri and two other people. A police volunteer who was on patrol without a weapon arrested Ziyud with his bare hands.
In court, the terrorist claimed that this was not a terrorist attack but rather his loss of control over his vehicle: “I did not do anything, they want to turn me into a terrorist, I do not know what they want from me,” he said.
“The revocation of Ziyud’s citizenship constitutes a proper and proportionate step,” wrote Court Deputy Chief Judge Avraham Elyakim in his decision. “Every citizen, alongside his rights, has obligations, one of which is the significant and important obligation to be loyal to the state, which is expressed in the obligation not to carry out terror activities aimed at harming its citizens and its security.”
Justice Elyakim also wrote that “an Israeli citizen may not be allowed to harm the lives and dignity of other Israeli citizens and whoever decides to carry out acts of terror he excludes himself from the country’s citizenry.” The judge added, “Ziyud took advantage of his freedom of movement to harm the security of the state and the welfare of its residents and sought to impose an atmosphere of terror and take human lives.”
The judge read the first names of Ziyud’s victims: Orel, Liat, Niv and Adi, and noted that they, too, have a constitutional right – the right to life.